Understanding Nonurgent Pediatric Emergency Department Visits Using Hospital and Family-Centric Data to Inform System Redesign

摘要

We conducted a mixed-method study to analyze the population and financial impact of emergency department use for pediatric nonurgent problems. Findings from this initial study led to our phase 2 case study, in which we interviewed 23 adults accompanying children younger than 4 years with nonemergent fever. The resulting qualitative analysis revealed that participants were unable to distinguish urgent from nonurgent conditions, perceived access limitations to care, and although they preferred the child's primary care physician, went to the emergency department for care.